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The Long Road to Dismantling Ukraine’s Oligarchic Democracy
There have been any number of reports about the
parlous state of Ukraine’s economy, and any number of working groups
have been set up, each offering advice and advisers to the government in
Kiev.
Even oligarchs such as Dmytro Firtash, who is steeped in corruption and has perpetuated Ukraine’s dysfunctional institutions, is trying to build his own so-called reform team from Vienna. This is despite the fact that the business activities of Firtash, an energy mogul, thrived under ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. He is under effective house arrest in Vienna awaiting extradition to the United States to face corruption charges over accusations of bribery.
It is also from the Austrian capital that the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, a research center long respected for its analysis of Europe’s Eastern neighbors, published a report on April 15 on what Ukraine and the EU have to do to reform Ukraine and stabilize its economy. The study paints a gloomy picture of a long and difficult road ahead.
The report, commissioned by United Europe, a group of pro-European
businesspeople and politicians, is hard-nosed. It lacks any illusions
about the immense difficulties facing reformers and the EU in
stabilizing and rebuilding Ukraine, let alone making the country
prosperous.
And the report has no qualms in proposing that the Ukrainian
government shift its spending priorities from the military to more
socially oriented areas.http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=59798&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonvKXNZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIGRcR0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D
Even oligarchs such as Dmytro Firtash, who is steeped in corruption and has perpetuated Ukraine’s dysfunctional institutions, is trying to build his own so-called reform team from Vienna. This is despite the fact that the business activities of Firtash, an energy mogul, thrived under ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. He is under effective house arrest in Vienna awaiting extradition to the United States to face corruption charges over accusations of bribery.
It is also from the Austrian capital that the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, a research center long respected for its analysis of Europe’s Eastern neighbors, published a report on April 15 on what Ukraine and the EU have to do to reform Ukraine and stabilize its economy. The study paints a gloomy picture of a long and difficult road ahead.
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